6. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Dan Brown's
The Da Vinci Code is not a good book, by a long shot. It's overwritten, overrated and mostly silly, released at a time when people were still getting excited about novels. The one thing that the book
does have going for it, though, is its movie-like pacing, which means there was really no excuse for the inevitable big screen adaptation to be anything but engaging. Alas, despite having Tom Hanks in a starring role, this - like all of those Illumati conspiracies that went hand in hand with this movie's release - never came to light. Somehow director Ron Howard (who also directed the even worse sequel
Angels & Demons) managed to transform an intriguing, speedy thriller into the kind of movie that has you watching it through your hands. Not because it's scary, mind, but because you need your fingers close by if you want to keep your eyes open. And to be fair, it's probably better that you don't try. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk - that's what you got here, as if that was the way to make a "smart" blockbuster. Brown's book is naff, but at least it isn't
boring.